Exercise

I am exhausted, long weekends are hard work. It's been a very productive weekend for me though. The quilt I showed you yesterday is progressing. I'm sure I once heard that small repetitive movements were more tiring than larger movements. Well in the case of longarm quilting it seems to be the case. There are a lot of areas of very dense quilting and they are mostly filled in with a zig zag. I can do about 30 minutes of that type of quilting before I have to have a break. It's surprisingly tough on my forearm. I guess it is because the movement is coming from my elbow to get the precision to fill in the areas I want. Ho hum. Still I am thrilled with the effect and I've nearly finished this stage of the project. When it's done I can move on to filling in the background which should be more varied and a lot quicker.

I've also managed to get some gardening done, and a washing line up. Both are more impressive than they might sound. I burn very easily so going out during the day in the weather we have had is interesting. It was something of a necessity though as one of our cats decided to throw up on the quilt that is on the bed. It was actually quite funny as I had just watched an episode of "The Quilt Show" where they had been explaining that traditionally quilt were used and when the cat threw up on them they had to be washed (hmm I wonder if that is what gave the cats the idea?). I had just commented I must be a pretty traditional quilter then as I think quilts should be used, then I went into the bedroom and found the mess. Of course it's the only quilt in the house at the moment the rest are in storage ready to do talks. It get better it is one of only two quilt's I own that don't fit in my washing machine. However I had noticed the quilt has got a lot softer and thinner with use (Ginko Typography) so I thought I would give it a try. It now fits, just. It saves a trip to the laundrette which I really don't have time for right now. However I didn't want to put a quilt that heavy straight into the tumble drier on a hot sunny day, that's just daft. So time to get a washing line, or indeed a rotary airer. I found one that claimed to be a complete kit. I assured me I would be able to take it home, install it and put up to 4 loads of washing on it (it even came with pegs). Surprise it worked! The rain held off just long enough to get everything dry too.

On the way in with a washing line we noticed the hedge cutting frenzy in the street. Of course we felt obliged to have a go too. The hedge looks great, but we need a new broom. I used it the head fell off, no biggie I put it back on. Tet used it and the handle broke in two! He really doesn't know his own strength. On the other hand as I type he is on the final stages of getting two of my patterns ready to send off to the printer which is very cool. Both of the patterns are designed to use ombre fabrics. One is "Dawn and Dusk". It was the first pattern we produced ourselves. It was a worrying pattern with very slow sales to start with but in hind sight I think that was my lack of marketing skills rather than any problem with the pattern. It's sold out it's first print run, hence the reprint. The other pattern is "Under the Rainbow". This was initially made for Popular Patchwork and I have always told people to contact them for a the back issue to get the pattern. They have sold out of that issue so it's time to produce my own pattern of it. I am really looking forward to them arriving. My short patterns are printed in full colour double sided on one sheet of A3 paper. This is then folded down to an A5 booklet. I like the fact that you can't lose any of the pages as there is only one sheet. It also reduces the possibility of me forgetting to put everything into the bag. Either the sheet is there or there isn't a pattern. Hopefully people using the pattern will enjoy it too.

Sneak peek

It's no good, I just have to share something I am working on, and well I don't think this will spoil the quilt for everyone. As you can see this is something a bit different for me. It's a bed quilt for a collector so it will only ever be seen at this one show. I would describe it as almost a wholecloth, and it is definitely an evolution of the things I have been doing in my wholecloths. In this quilt I am trying (and so far succeeding) to make the quilting an image rather than a pattern. It's slightly nerve wracking as I can't really see the image as I work. This is a problem I run into a lot. The human eye isn't good at seeing the whole picture when it is this close to so large a work. Also the stitches are very dense in some areas which requires focusing there for quite some time. I find after doing that my brain makes that area look out of proportion. I know it is an optical illusion but it doesn't help me see how the image is working.

On the other hand I am really enjoying having large blocks of time to spend on one of my quilts. I've had two days of preparatory work for this quilt. Drafting the patterns and preparing the top. Now I am getting to quilt it is a wonderful feeling. I really love this very free but artistic type of work, even when (or perhaps especially when) it throws up lots of challenges. You may have realised that I am working from the middle of the quilt outwards. On a longarm this makes things a lot more tricky and time consuming, but I need to be able to fit the rest of the quilting around this image so I have to start by getting this into place. There is also the small matter that I haven't entirely decided what the rest of the quilting will be, so this gives the quilt a chance to talk to me.

You're probably aware that I don't make samples of techniques. I try thing straight on a real quilt (often a show quilt as it's the only time I have to play on my own work) and if it works, great if not I have to start again. Well this is almost a sample even though it is also a live show quilt. It is allowing me to try out a technique I will be using in a much more complex and time consuming piece. From what I've seen so far I am happy that the second quilt (from the graphic novel Cancertown) will work out very well. So much so I am thinking of using it on another quilt as well, which I had completely different plans for before today. The fact that it looks like this piece is going to be so important in my future works yet will only be seen once at the festival made it the obvious choice to put on my blog. I really am missing being able to share all my quilts as I work on them, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Very silly craft video.

I've not looked at the rest of them but this one is very funny, and slightly scary. Admitedly more for knitters than quilters but still...

Speed quilt 3

I can finally reveal speed quilt 3. I had thought it launched 4th July but apparently not. I will be teaching it for the first time on the 6th June. That may not seem like a big difference but with my schedule it's a huge issue. Fortunately speed quilts live up to their name. I think this quilt (about 95" square) took me 8 hours including cutting. It hasn't been bound yet, or indeed trimmed. I don't have the space to trim it sensibly here so I will wait to take it to the shop, at which point it will go straight into service as a sample. I guess it will join the queue waiting to be bound.

Over the weekend I also tried to buy a car stereo. It was a very frustrating experience. What I am looking for is something that can play mp3 tracks from a USB device and that gives me a sensible way to access the track I want. As I can have 2000+ tracks I don't want the only navigation to be next and previous track. I've lost track of how many people have said it will work if I buy an ipod. I have no issue with being able to connect one to a stereo but I don't feel it should be essential. Heck my mobile phone has a better user interface for the mp3 player than these supposedly dedicated devices. It was also sad how little shop staff knew about the products they were selling. On the whole I got the impression each one knew a little about one or two systems. I guess that is to be expected in Halfords but in dedecated car audio shops I do expect better. I was shocked by how maany staff expected to tell me what I want (without asking any questions) and have me hand over the money without even seeing the system. Sorry but that isn't going to happen. I could buy on the internet and have better service. Having said all that you might not be surprised to hear that most of the car audio specialists in the area have closed down. Yes I am looking on this as lessons in how not to sell.

Some quilts you have to see.

If you haven't heard of Izabella Baykova you've missed out on some fantastic quilts. Bonnie McCaffery sent out this information in her latest newsletter. Grab a coffee and enjoy.

***NEW VidCast #34 Russian Quilt Artist Izabella Baykova
Izabella's quilts are filled with meaning. Go to http://www.bonniemccaffery.com to see the latest VidCast. As a bonus we have also included a Russian version of the interview with Izabella - so if you have any Russian friends, feel free to pass the link on to them (http://www.bonniemccaffery.com/vidcasts/034r.html).
To take a look at Izabella's website (which is in Russian) you can go to http://babelfish.yahoo.com/. In the URL space add this link http://www.siniygranat.ru/ and then select "Russian to English" translation. You'll see lots more of her beautiful quilts.

If you ever get a chance to see these quilts in person do take it. They are far more striking in real life. I love the way the seem to glow.

Another learning weekend.

Well it's finally happened. Cancertown is a real, hold it in your hand book, and I have my copy. You will probably remember me talking about this graphic novel that has been written by a friend from university. This weekend I was lucky to have the chance to be at it's launch at the Bristol Small Press Expo, and help introduce people to it. As ever at these events I learned a lot, a large part of which I can use in what I do. I think the tow most obvious to me were how much easier it is to toot someone else's horn and how great it is to have a prop when doing it. I guess it does help when the book looks and feels good. The printing and binding are really nicely done. I am hoping the printer who did it will be able to give me a good price on doing my book so I can have him do them. So the third thing is, do your best on every job, you never know who will see it or what business they might send your way.

I've been surprised at each comics event how similar it is to the quilting industry. Even going in knowing that it still catches me out. This weekends revelation is that the comics industry is starting to struggle with it's wholesale system. Like quilting wholesalers send out a catalog listing new products. It has a tiny picture and a few lines of text. I had already realised this is useless for evaluating a new product and pretty hit and miss when you know exactly what you are looking for. When I try and select the right pins from one of these books, it can take me an hour to get the right code for what I wanted and I know exactly what I am looking for. Imagine using that system to sell a book or a pattern. A picture may an inch square just doesn't work. This lead to several people trying to come up with some better ideas for selling new products (OK they were thinking comics but a good idea is a good idea where ever it comes from). Really the best, though not terribly practical answer) would be to put one of your product into the hands of the potential buyers. For comics, patterns and books a shop owner is much more likely to stock your product if they a can hold it in their hands and read it. They need to know it is of good production quality and well written. They would like to be able to see how it fits both their shop and their customers. As I said this isn't going to work on a large scale, but perhaps we can get closer to it. How about using online systems to allow customers to read part of a book (take a look on Cy's site to see the first chapter of Cancertown for example)? It seems like a good way to let people try a product before buying, and it is a lot easier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than printing and posting. Perhaps offering a printed extract or a sample pattern to shops interested in your work would be a good idea too? That's trickier because I know that I use different printing companies and processes for different products but I do aim for the same standard throughout so it might work. Maybe the time has come for wholesalers to make their catalogues electronic not printed. It would save them postage costs even if it were still posted as a CD is a lot cheaper to ship then paper. Having given it some thought a wholesaler could probably get a lot of their suppliers to enter information about their product into electronic forms with an automated process to produce formatted pages. You could end up with a whole page per product like many web stores. This would benefit all sides of the process, the suppliers can really explain why we want their product, the wholesaler would save on postage and printing and hopefully sell more and the shops can make a more informed decision. Anyone fancy grabbing the idea an running with it in either industry?

If anyone would like a copy of Cancertown I do have a few to sell. I even have a very limited number signed by both the writer and the artist (thanks for letting me drag you to a dodgy looking carpark guys). Just send me an email and I will come up with a way of getting a copy to you. Failing that Cancertown is available on Amazon as well. Thanks for inviting us Cy and keep up the good work.

Quilting

I thought it was about time I offered some proof that I am still quilting. This is a large customer quilt, about 95" square I think. As it has quite a soft look we decided all over feathers would suit it well. It's come out with a really comforting look. i love this quilting pattern but I don't often use it on my own quilts. I think that is because I see it as delicate and a bit traditional so I don't think of it when I work on my quilts.

Home safe

Joker made it through her first weekends racing on one piece. Strangely it seems to have had a positive effect on her, she seems to be running better than ever. Can I claim racing is part of servicing your car? I am going to claim today's racing was good. We ran another 16 second pass with Tet on the brakes at the top end (finish line) to try and slow down. I say try as he still broke out (ran faster than he said he would) and lost the race. It's good from my point of view as it proves the first time wasn't just a fluke.

I've heard that the Patchwork Corner section of the shop hop went well. I am sorry to have missed you guys, but I did have a prior engagement. I will pick up contact details on Wednesday then I can get in touch with people interested in my book. We haven't started taking pre-orders yet, but we will soon, and yes I will be announcing it here. Yes they will be available signed, yes there will be a discount for pre-orders, and no I don't know how much postage is yet. I think that covers the first round of questions.

On the quilting front I am now pretty much booked up for customer work before the NEC show in August. I have a very few emergency slots left. As I mentioned before I am offering a discount to people who book a quilt in now to be done later in the year. So if you have a quilt that isn't urgent this is your chance to get a bargain.

I was thrilled last week to get a large box of hand dyed fabric in for the States. Buying online can be tricky, but this will be perfect for the project I bought it for. Sadly as with so much I am doing at the moment I can't show you yet (yes I does upset me to not be able to share) but I am sure it will be worth the wait. I'm finding with several of the projects I am working on now fabrics are hard to find. I've had to massively expand my range of greens as two of the projects need them. One wants lots of mucky dull green and the other wants all the bright leaf greens. It's strange after years of avoiding it to now be actively seeking green. I guess I aught to think about doing some work while I wait for Trogdor to be delivered (he is going to a garage on a lorry) then I will need to think about retrieving Tet. I'm sorry but when I get Jokers on track photos I will have to bore you with them, proud mother syndrome :) I can't tell you how chuffed I am that she ran two 16second passes and didn't piddle on the track at all.

Joker done good.

Well I think it was good. OK it was a break out, but it's a good time and I am thrilled. That's it for today. Hopefully we will get a clear day tomorrow.

Third run

So, it looks like Joker is getting the idea. We are getting progressively quicker, and less smokey. It's also given me a chance to check how acurate my speedo is. Surprisingly, it's pretty good.

Baby's first timing ticket.

For a car nut this is an important moment. It's under 20 seconds which makes me feel better, but she should be able to do nearer 16 seconds. We will be looking to improve. At least she got from one end to the other without dropping anything on the track.

The picture says it all.

Yesterday was bad. Today isn't looking good. Wish Joker luck in her debut. Trogdor will be needing a new engine, anyone got a spare big block?

Rain today.

I don't know what is more amazing, a race weekend without rain or getting to the semi-finals. They are both pretty good and rather strange. The car wasn't real on the ball this weekend, there was no consistency to it's times at all. I have no idea how we won, and I did feel bad about it. I have no problem with winning when I feel we were better, but on luck it bothers me. Still I guess you have to take it when you get it. Sadly the same can be said of sunburn. New factor 50 sun block and a hat and covering up didn't manage to protect me. It is very exposed at the track so it isn't entirely surprising, but it is frustrating. Tesco cheapy sensitive after sun seems pretty good though. Very soothing and moisturising. The weather has realised it's mistake and it is pouring down now.

The writing didn't go as well yesterday. I find it harder to concentrate between races than between qualifying. Still I did make good progress over the weekend and I can now think about typesetting. I might even be able to get the pattern to a tester in the next couple of weeks which would be great. Although I have just remembered another pattern I need to get written up pretty urgently. I wish I had thought of it before I went :(

Anyway there is a quilt calling me and I had better go and attend to it while I wait for every delivery in the world to arrive. I think there are about 5 parcels due today and all from different carriers. No chance to concentrate today.

It could happen to anyone - once.

First for the non race goers a bit of background. When you are drag racing you want to get the car from stationary to moving as quickly and efficiently as possible. To do this you need the driven wheels of your car to grip the track. The track is sticky, but you are always looking for more grip. So before you race you warm the tyres up to make them sticky. If you are lucky you have a way to apply your brakes only to the non driven wheels. In our case we have a line lock to do this. So far so good. The track today wasn't as sticky as we would like, we expected that, but the first run was very disapointing. We checked the car and got ready to run again. As we were leaving the pit Tet noticed the car wasn't behaving right, it felt like a brake was jammed on... You guessed it, the line lock was on. Funnily the next run was somewhat better, taking the brakes off does help. I was pretty hopefull for our next run, but 14.7 seconds is not at all right for our car. Tet had been worried it wasn't running right and the walk back to the pit was stressful. What had we broken? The nut behind the wheel, he had left the linelock on! Argh. Well at least it is easier to fix than I had feared, I have a new signal to give to make sure the brake is off. Although we did notice that it stopped us spinning the wheels off the line, so in a warped way it did help.

Despite getting more runs than usual, I managed to get quite a lot of writing done too. I think I just have one more chapter of my second book to write now. Obviously todays work will need illustrating when I get home, but it was good progress. I also made a good start on a pattern too. Hopefully I will finish that and get well into a second pattern tomorrow. It's amazing where you can find spare time if you really look for it.

Brain like a sieve

I remembered what I was supposed to say in the last post. Next week is the shop hop at Patchwork Corner, Art van go and Threads and Patches. It runs on the 1st and 2nd of May and there will be loads of events at all three shops. Also you will be able to see several of the quilts made by students from my first book "Ferreting Around". If you would like to see what all the fuss is about it's the place to be. There will also be demonstrations of gadgets and patterns, to say nothing of great refreshments.

Other news, Cy has an interview up on Jazma Online. He is talking about Cancertown and his other up coming projects. I think it is a really good interview. It sounds like Cy and it does give a really good overview of a lot of his work. While you are there you might like to also look at the interviews with Stephen Downey, the artist for Cancertown and Crawford Coutts the Marketing director of Insomnia publications. Have a good look at the illustration on Stephens interview, it may become important later :)

Time flies

I'd love to say it's when you're having fun, but actually it's when you have work coming in at a silly rate and other life stuff happening too. Where did the week go? Tuesday was good we got a lot of finishing touches put on quilts. It was nice to have a chance to quilt in front of people. It'd hard to explain what I do and really the only way make it clear is for people to see me work. One was a customer and she seemed really pleased to have seen me in action. hopefully now Tet has a new camera I might be able to make some short videos.

Wednesday was the first day of a new term. I always find it a bit of a shock to the system. An early morning and lots of teaching really takes it out of me, then I had to come home and get on with the quilt on the frame. Typically the one on the frame isn't urgent but there are several that are waiting to go on. I could have taken it off the frame but then I would have lost so long time wise it really isn't worth it. I just have to get it finished and then move on.

This weekend we should be racing. Sadly the weather isn't looking like playing ball, so I will be taking advantage of the down time to write. I've got final notes and corrections on book one to do, and I am hoping I might be able to finish book two as well. If I do all that I have several other patterns I would like to get written up too. I'm wondering if I can find a couple of brackets I can hook over my steering wheel to support the laptop. It's won't be great ergonomics but it will be a lot better than resting it on my lap. I laughed at the desks you can buy to put over the steering wheel when I saw them, I get the point now. So all in all I will probably be a bit quite for a while. You'll just have to trust me I'm working hard and there will soon be a lot more interesting quilts to be seen at the NEC this year.

Today's a good day

Woo hoo, at least one visitor at the IQA Chicago enjoyed Herd Mentality. Does that matter? Well yes to me it does. It's expensive sending quilts to shows and knowing that someone appreciated it enough to tell others really makes it worth while. So if you've got a minute take a look at Tracy Macabe's blog and see the other quilts that grabbed her at the show.

Still here

Sorry it's been a while folks, life has been getting in the way of blogging. As well as racing Easter is apparently the time to be ill. It seems everyone I know has had a variation of a stinking cold, and that has meant everything has been going slower than it should. I know it can't be helped but I still find it very frustrating.

I know it's late notice but if you are at a loose end tomorrow between 10am and 4pm please consider coming along to Patchwork Corner for a Linus day. We have some projects to finish off and get to new good homes. Any and all help will be made use of.

Now for the exciting news that has kept me from my quilting to blog. Ferret Fabrications is officially a publisher. We have our allocation of ISBN numbers and the first have been allocated to books. Somehow for me this makes things official. Now all I have to do is play catch up with Cy. I am thrilled his first novel will launch before my book, it seems like the proper order, but now I am on a mission to sell as many books as he does. It's going to be a tall order I suspect, but that is one reason it's a good target for me. Do feel free to buy his book and increase my challenge, I like something to work at. He is also rather happy, as the follow up to Cancertown has been approved. This is good news for me too. I know I will enjoy the story and it means I cn now look forward to more of it. Win win in my book.

Sorry that's all for now. I need to write some more of book two and get some quilting done before tomorrow.

Racing

One race at least, well a run, there was only one lane in use. Still it was track time and after two and a half days of rain it was pretty amazing. We ran 14.2 on a 13.89 dialin, but with most of the class well off the numbers we have qualified third! Amazing. We might get another qualifier tomorrw, but who knows. The weather forecasts don't seem to be able to decide.

Rain rain go away

And if you must come again can you wait 3 or 4 days please. Two classes of car managed to get some qualifying runs in. The rest of us didn't turn a wheel, it has rained on and off all day. I did get to do some tool shopping which was fun. Pretty coloured short screwdrivers for sewing machines.

I don't like tests.

I especially don't like ones where I don't feel I can effect the outcome. MOT's and scrutineering both fall into that camp. You take your besat guess and hope and wait. Last nigh we thenwaited some more, and more, and more. The car is now ready to race, but the weather isn't playing ball. Hence sitting here blogging. I would be working on some hand sewing, but I seem to have done something to my shoulder so I figure resting it migh be a good idea. Hmm, people are uncovering cars maybe the rain has paused. I'll be astounded if we get a run today, but we will be ready if there is a chance.

Ouch

I think I have just run headlong into the economic problems. The latest batch of wadding I ordered went up in price between the order and delivery. It happens so mostly it isn't a problem, but this time it went up 60%! That's a lot. It's going to have happened to all the shops too. So they are now faced with passing it on making the wadding about £13 per meter (80/20 90 something inches) or selling it at a loss (after overheads). Which translates to lose money from lost customers or lose money on each sale. Not a choice I would want to make.

A found a good quilt shop.

I know it shouldn't be a news item, but trust me. It is. I've had far more negative experiences of quilt shops than positive, so when I do find a good one I like to share the information. I was in need of some supplies that my local show is out of stock of, and despite me keeping pretty good stocks myself I am out too. I happened to be going to Kent and I remembered that there is a quilt shop in Sevenoaks. Being stuck in traffic has it's uses, I had time to remember the name of the shop too, Puddleducks (see something does sink in from the ads in the quilt magazines). out with the trusty phone and I shortly had a website and from that an address and phone number. Yes, people really do use this information. I had a little trouble finding the shop but that was due to the postcode look up giving me the wrong address and me not spotting it. Follow the advice on the site and park in the public car park it is really cheap.

Unusually for a quilt shop, someone appeared quickly and said hello. Maybe this happens to other people but it doesn't often to me. She was keen to help and very friendly. Unfortunately they didn't have what I needed either but I did get some fabric. I nice batch of batiks for one of my new big projects and some more blacks and greys. While I was there a couple of other people came into the shop. I think one works there and the other was just a customer, but they were both lovely as well. Very welcoming. The shop was also happy to let me use the loo. Maybe not a big deal but when you have a long drive home in rush hour traffic it is very much appreciated.

Now before you think that maybe the shop had seen the recent article about me and were being nice because of it, they hadn't. This shop is just full of nice people. It's so nice to be welcomed in a quilt shop, and to be able to recommend a shop. If you are in the Sevenoaks area do give these guys a visit, you might also like to look into their range of courses. I believe they do quite a few and have a classroom behind the main room of the shop. Just in case you missed it earlier their web site is here.

There's a rat in the bin!

I know many people have cats that hunt. I am sure many of them collect rats, and much as I love pet rats, I'd rather not have the wild ones too close to my house, sorry. So this morning when I walked into the bathroom and found one, dead, I wasn't entirely surprised. I did clear it up though. Distressingly the bathroom still smells of dead rat tonight. I had been pondering what to do about it when Tet came home. I mentioned this to him. "Yes", he says "it would". "The rat is still in the bin". I had told him this morning about the rat. The thing is I didn't put it in the bathroom bin, it would smell. It seems however the cats would. It's nice that they disposed of their trophy so neatly, but how do I train them to put it in the kitchen bin, or better yet outside?

Quilting Anouncement

As you may know I have a gallery space at the Festival of Quilts this year. This is a great opportunity, but it does mean I need to make a large amount of new work to display there. My larger art quilts often occupy the frame for extended periods of time so I will have to reduce the number of customer quilts I take in between now and then (August). As you will know if you've had me work on your quilts I don't like to keep customers waiting, so I've come up with a reward scheme for those who will help me reduce the number of quilts I need to work on immediately. If you contact me before the Festival of quilts, to have a quilt quilted after the show I will give you a 15% discount on your bill. If you have work that really needs to be done sooner, I will try and fit you in but it will be at full price, and the turn around may be a little longer than usual. I am hoping that this will help everyone. I will get the time I need for my own work, urgent quilts will be done as required and the rest of my customers will get a bonus for their help and support. It will also mean I can put on a far more interesting show for everyone with lots of new quilts to see.

Cool or what!

Isn't this just amazing? No? Have a closer look at this address label. It's stitched. It arrived this morning in clear plastic so it could be seen on the outside of the package. The package contained some quilts that a friend was returning to me. My quilts have never had a proper quilt bag before, let alone one with a proper label.

maybe I shoudn't be so excited about my quilts coming home, but a proper quilt bag! Does that mean I've made it into the realms of proper quilters? Do I need to start making them for all my quilts so they don't feel left out :)

Laundrette time

It's time for my irregular reminder to think about how you will wash your quilt before you make a monster. It really is worth the time to see if the three parts fit before you quilt them together. Most king size quilts will fit in a domestic washing machine but you may need a thinner wadding. The one that currently has me at the laundrette had two quite thick cotton waddings in it. It is a lovely warm winter quilt but a bit of a pain to wash.

In fairness my closest laundrette has been upgraded since I was last here. New high capacity high speed machines mean it takes 30 minutes to wash the monster quilt and all the other bedding. I think the machine would have taken two of those quilts in one go if I had two. As ever I've met a nice and intersting person here too, so I can't really complain. Still if you don't want to be doing this, check before you quilt.

Urgh

I didn't ask to be ill, really I didn't. Still I seem to be largely winning against the cold other than the sneezing. I've realised again today that I am very much a quilter though, I've been trying to take it easy and do some piecing which is less physical and therefore might help me fight the cold. All I can think about is getting back to the frame for some serious quilting. Doh! I've just got too many great projects to be working on. Spoilt for choice.

I had been going to brag about the new photocopier I bought today. It seemed pretty exciting, and will save me a lot of time and effort but something way better has come up. I've mentioned my friend Cy Dethan, the writer. Well his latest project Cancertown will be out soon (it's already available for pre-order) and he has just had the foreword completed. Not excited yet? Well it's been written by one of my favorite writers Bryan Talbot. That is just amazing. Cy has posted the foreword on his blog if you would like to read it. Be warned, than language is quite colourful, this is the introduction to a horror/fantasy comic and has been written accordingly.

My and Oh My!

You have probably noticed that bad things tend to come in groups. You rarely seem to have one thing go wrong you always get a cascade right. Well I would suggest that good things can do this too. I don't know if you remember me talking about a quilt I worked on that was to raise money for Macmillan nurses? Well it raised over 2000 pounds! How cool is that? I am thrilled to have been involved in it. It looks like I will have to ask them nicely for a picture of it, it seems I forgot to take one. Doh! I was really pleased with the quilting on it too.

The other good thing today was very unexpected. I am teaching a masterclass at the Festival of Quilts this year. I wasn't sure about doing it at all but I took the plunge. Well my class sold out in 4 hours if I am reading the email correctly. I am staggered. If you are one of those who has signed up, thank you and I hope I will be able to deliver you a good class. I have to admit I am now feeling the pressure. It is a class I have taught many times, but I've never felt it was so important to get it right. These people are keen, very keen, and organized. They were on the ball and booking as soon as it opened. Well if you don't see me after the class, you'll know I failed to deliver :)

A new bed quilt

It was decided I aught to take some time to work on something just for me. I don't often get the chance now. I seem to have been a bit obsessed with broken stars recently so that is what I have started on. The middle 8 diamonds are done, and the strips prepared for 3 more. The whole quilt will need 32, who knows when I will have time to make those. It does seem to have quitened that obsession though and I am really looking forward to quilting it. I am thinking of making it a very wide but not verry long, maybe 120" wide and about 80" long. I have noticed the cats taking up an increasing amount of quilt and the 100" wide one simply isn't big enough. To extend the quilt like that I think I will need to add extra borders to two sides. This seems an ideal oportunity to add more stars. I can't help it, I love stars.

A run of great quilts

There are days, sometimes even weeks when I love my job, and it's all down to what quilts come in. Recently I've been really lucky and had a run of fun well behaved quilts. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to load a really flat square quilt. It's just amazing. The last one I finished tonight was the most unusual. On the longarm quilting system I load the three layers of a quilt individually. You generally can't work on one that has been tacked or partly quilted as it rucks up and gets tucks in either the front or the back. Well one came in tacked, it happens, but it looked exceptionally flat. So I tried loading it. It worked! The most remarkable thing is I am pretty sure the customer said it was her first quilt. Flat as a board perfectly tacked and with fantastic points. I was in heaven working on it. Now I just have to hope she likes what I have done with it :)

Anyway to bed, I am teaching frame quilting tomorrow so it's going to be a hard day. I still have places on my three part course 'A quilt of your own'. This course will take you through designing and planning your own quilt. Help will be offered with block choices, setting, sizes and methods of construction. I am finding more students are having a go at making something up for themselves, and this course is intended to provide the support and assistance for those trying this for the first time, or trying something more complex then they have in the past. It can be booked online at the link to the class.

What a strange feeling.

Today has been very odd. I've been teaching my book quilt for a year now, and I had thought I largely let students get on with it. Apparently not. I guess thinking about it I do watch the classes (well I am there to teach) and I am very aware of anyone having to think too much, that frown just before you get stuck. So what has been causing me the confusion today? The book is getting it's toughest test. A non quilter working through it. The hard part for me is I am banned from interfering. Yes, this will make a better book. Yes I really want to do it, but boy it feels strange.

It's also proved to be a way to find new and interesting problems. The strangest was freshly made bias tape unfolding. I've seen lightly pressed tapes coming a little unfolded, but even the one I pressed had completely flattened out. I'd never seen anything like it. I was all ready to blame the fabric, we had tried everything else, when it dawned on me what was different. I press a strip then hang it near my cutting table before pressing the next. My tester was leaving them on the ironing board. On the surface a much more sensible solution, less walking too and fro. However with a mesh top ironing board and a steam generator iron you get enough steam coming up through the board to neatly steam out the folds you just put in. Doh! Not a problem I would ever have encountered in a class as the boards there all have solid tops, but one a beginner could easily find at home. If nothing else it has proved that this testing is worthwhile.

Other than that I am looking forward to a very busy week. I've got a lot of customer work that needs to be delivered Tuesday or Wednesday this week. Fortunately they are all quite fun quilts, and I've got most of them done over the last couple of days. I've got two workshops this week as well as the regular classes and in between I want to write another couple of chapters of book two. I don't think I am going to get a lot of blogging time unfortunately. On the other hand I might be able to photograph some of the customer work and put that up later in the week, it depends a lot on how hectic the teaching is.

The downside of being this busy is I've missed another quilt show. I had intended to put a couple of quilts into Malvern, but the deadline was yesterday. I am concentrating so hard on the Festival of Quilts, other competitions just aren't registering.

Car 2

As you can see, I did get a chance to quilt car 2 today. It's just dawned on me I will need to give them a proper title at some point. It feels really good to have made some progress on my own quilts. Having three ready to block trim and bind is amazing. I've started thinking about the binding for the cars. I am pretty sure I want them all to be the same. I was assuming I would use a narrow traditional binding as that is what I usually put on art quilts, and using either the red or the black. As I was giving them a preliminary trim it struck me that I could go with a piped binding and get in both colours, maybe even all the white too. So folks what do you think?

The original photograph I worked from for this quilt was taken by Richard Stirling, who has kindly given me permission to use a couple of his images in this series. Just as well as I haven't got many of my own the last couple of years due to helping out with Tet's car.

At last

After my talk today (Keene quilters in Essex) I was very careful to put this quilt where I could not only find it but get at it to take a picture. So I can finally show you the whole quilt that I teased you with months ago. That will teach me not to be too optimistic about when I will be able to post finished pictures.

Apparently it is possible to work out who's car this is. I am surprised as I think a lot of the identity is in the sponsorship, which is not there in this image. I'll be interested to see how many people do recognise it.

The next one is (I think) a lot more distinctive. I spent the last couple of days working on the pattern and preparing the applique. I am hoping I will get time to quilt it tomorrow, but we shall see. I will get to empty my car tomorrow after a week of talks. It will be nice to have some space in it for a while. After that I have to get back to customer quilts so the third car in the set (which is part way thought the design phase) may have to wait a little while. I've got plans for at least four of these quilts, but I am open to suggestions of other distinctive drag racers.

Other projects are also progressing. I've been fussing with book one, which is still in need of a final title (eeek). It's been using "Ferreting around" as it's working title, which is OK but not very enlightening. It's a hard decision I want the title to be easy to find if you are looking for it by theme and easily memorable. The two don't actually seem to go together at all. I suspect at some time I will be forced to make a decision, and then we will see what happens.

Quilting tips videos

I was just taking a break from my drawing and found these videos that might help you when working on your next quilt. First, and very close my heart, getting your borders to lie flat.

Perfect Quilt Borders

Measure Your Quilt for Perfect Borders

I like the fact that the second one shows a quilt which does have different measurements in different places. It does happen and it isn't a big deal, provided you account for it. I also rather like the pattern of the second quilt, just what I needed more ideas :)

Finally, for those who make folded miters on their bindings there is this interesting video. I sew mine, but this might make it possible for even me to get four good corners with folded corners.

Mitered Corners

Have fun and don't get too distracted. There are a lot of quilting videos on You Tube, you could waste hours.

Quilting and thinking

This week has bee half term for the regular classes at Patchwork Corner. I was thinking this meant I had a week off. Well it was a nice theory, but actually I found I had booked four talks in seven days, not exactly a holiday. Still it does mean I get to meet a lot of quilters, read and drive. Just as well I enjoy driving. The driving has given me my first new insight. I listen to music on my mobile phone, it behaves much like any other MP3 player. Usually though I have stuck with listen to whole albums, it seems to me that is how the artist intended me to hear it, so that's what I do. However changing album while driving isn't easy and listening to one album on repeat for three hours at a time isn't much fun either, so I decided to listen to the tracks on random for a change. I was so surprised which tracks I really enjoyed. Some albums I haven't played for months made me smile as soon as I heard the first couple of notes. Equally some I would have said I loved were a bit lacking when heard with the rest. It got me thinking about how I really tick, which then leads on to the quilting again.

I have managed to work on two of my quilts in between the talks. One I wanted to post yesterday is lurking in the car somewhere with the talk quilts, so I will dig it out tomorrow at the last of the four talks. The other I will keep for the Festival of quilts but it's that one that got me thinking. It's another human form, and I am loving doing it. Working on the humans is so different to anything else I do. I feel more connected to my work, more absorbed by it. Perhaps that doesn't seem odd to other people, but I find it very strange. If it were animals I would understand. Animals I can connect to, I love spending time with them, but humans I find very hard work. I would much rather be with my cats than with people, so why do the humans in quilts grab me more than the cats? I wonder if it is partly that I need to work at them more? The car quilt I stitched directly before the figure, was engrossing in a different way. I didn't need to think much, I knew exactly what was where and how it should feel. It was lovely to work on, but didn't have the extra something the humans have. I don't understand why some subjects should have this sort of effect, and I wonder, does this happen to other artists? Is this a factor in how people find their style and subject matter?

Just to reassure those who can't get to the Festival of Quilts in August, I will be posting a tour of my gallery there once it is up. I just want to have some work to surprise those who can make it to the show. Of course I will post some in progress pictures too.

Hmm, helpful

Those of you with cats have probably had them help you at some time or other. You know, the sort of help you really don't need. Well I think mine have just taken the biscuit.

I've been working on a new piece and wandering about muttering magpie. I am using them as a basis for my quilt. I've been looking at so many pictures it's getting silly. I've also been watching our local ones. It seems this sudden interest has been noted (I don't normally join the cats in bird watching).

A couple of days ago we thought we could smell something in the bedroom. A fairly thorough search didn't turn up anything though, and to be honest I thought I had imagined it. Today I leaned over a chest of drawers to stroke a cat and spotted.... a beak. A rather large beak... Oh lordy, a whole and quite large (and unfortunately) dead magpie. When I finally managed to retrieve it (how the heck did they get it through the cat flap) I had an audience. The cats seemed to be very pleased I had finally noticed their 'present'.

I did take the chance to have a good look at where the feathers should be in the tail, the wings weren't going to spread for me. So it did help, but I would have rather observed it alive. Hopefully I can do it justice in the quilt, and I really hope the cats don't feel I need another.

Children and Animals

I've heard the saying never work with children or animals, but I haven't had cause to do either so I had no idea how true it might be. Well, I've tried it now and I don't recommend it. I have 6 cats, most of then pretty photogenic. I will admit to one who has no feline elegance and slobs around but the other s are normally pretty good. We were trying to get a new picture of me for publicity uses, this sounds simple, but believe me it isn't. I loathe having my picture taken, and well it shows. Having read up on portrait photography, part of the trick to getting a good picture is to get your subject to relax, and we figured in my case that pretty much means distracting me from the camera. Apparently I was being perfectly photogenic any moment I did think the camera could get me.

"Let's use a cat as a prop." Sounds fair, cute cat, relaxed human, could work. Huh, wanna bet. Every cat suddenly became fat, stroppy and obsessed with being upside down. I really didn't feel being pictured next to a cats bottom helped. Every so often the cat seemed to realise the camera was unable to catch them and would pose perfectly, only to leap away as the shutter went. Bah and humbug. Of course today they are being perfect little darlings again, I am not trying to photograph them anymore after all.

We settled on the longarm for a prop. It behaved much better and we did manage to get a usable picture. My advice, stick to machines, avoid children and animals.

There are some days

You know those days when you just should have stayed in bed. I knew I had to talk to a courier about a damaged shipment, but that went surprisingly well. I got someone friendly, helpful and competant. A good start. I knew I had emails to answer and paper work to do. No problem we are handling our own email, so it's been working recently. However to send it I do need to be connected to the internet don't I. Hmm, well I might be, sort of. Spotting this after working on half a dozen emails doesn't bode well, but they will probably get there eventually. Of course one of them is urgent and must arrive by tomorrow. Joy.

I get a call back from the courier, a much less helpful one. Never mind, I think, I'll have a bath, the water should have been heaing for the last half hour...or not. I would give up and go out at this point but I am expecting a package. Wanna bet it turns up just after I get in the cold bath :) My cat's feel the correct answer is to go back to bed, but as I have a nice customer to go and see and a great bunch of ladies to teach tonight, I think I will stick with it. Now lets test that bath theory.

This is my latest side project. Cutting kits at the shop produces lots of odd strips. We had been thinking of kitting with them, until last week when someome mentioned rag rugs on a mail list. So last night before my class I had a go at it. My first attempt took about 15 minutes and was a bit of a dogs dinner. This is take two. I guess it's 2 or 3 hours work at most. The strips I've used aren't all the same width, I've just grabbed whatever came by, and it works. Also it's cat approved, as you can see. I don't know how much larger this one will be. I rather like the way the colours are working and I've nearly used up what I have of those colours.

Snow!

For the first time in many years we got some proper snow. In the UK more than a dusting is treated like a crisis, so this was enough to stop London for a day. It started Sunday night, and expecting the usual half hearted attempt we went out and made the most of it. Launching hot air balloons in the snow it well worth doing, at least once.

It kept snowing, and well it was a late night. I love watching it snow. Waking up to a proper covering was fantastic. I think Tet was relieved not to be riding his bike though. As you can see it got a thick blanket, as did the wheelie bins. Unfortunately yesterday was bin day for us, so I suspect we will have a full recycling bin for two weeks now. At least it means the dustcart didn't slide into my car.

I Don't know if you can see in the background of my car, but we do now have a less than upright lamp post. That happened when the snow had just started. We heard the crash , but didn't realise what it must have been until we went out to look at the snow. As the tubes weren't working it seemed like a good time to go for a walk. We don't often have time and it seems we weren't the only ones. Our local park is usually pretty empty but lots of families were there playing together. Maybe we need more snow, just to make people take some time off together. Everyone seemed more friendly than usual too. Perhaps this was the British banding together in adversity :)

On route to the park is this very picturesque house. It's lovely any time for the year. It has plants that flower at different times and just looks wonderful. Snow apparently is no exception. Some trees are just designed to look good covered in snow.

Finally I felt a snow report from Harrow wouldn't be complete without Harrow on the hill. Sorry we didn't feel like trying to get up the very slippery roads to it and when we got to a good place to see it at all it was getting pretty overcast (this was just before it started snowing again) but still. It's the famous church next to the school in the snow.

The downside of the snow is it makes it very hard for me to concentrate. I have a window next to my longarm but I usually keep the curtain closed. I just had to have ti open to watch the snow. So I only managed to quilt a small quilt yesterday. Still I have the machine mostly behaving again and I can make another push on customer work today. I'd rather have more snow though. Keep your fingers crossed the forecast is right and we have more to come.

Typos

It has been pointed out to me I have a rather entertaining pair of typos in the next (previous) post. I was going to edit it and fix them, but they seemed too funny to kill off. So "If you clock on the pictures you will get bugger images" should have read "If you click on the pictures you will get bigger images". It seems I can hit any key but the i :)

Customer Quilt

This is a quilt I finished a while ago, but that I really want to share. I had just watched Myrna Fickens DVD Just do it - Freehand Design. I had also spent a play day with a fellow longarm quilter. So my head was full of new ideas. I'd had this quilt a while waiting for it's backing to come in, and I had completely forgotten what the quilt looked like, so it was a surprise when I got it out.

Somehow I had been expecting a much simpler pattern so now I had to come up with something that would fit this quilt. It's a scrappy quilt and that inspired me, scrappy quilting. I know Myrna did say not to put all the patterns on one quilt, but why not on a scrap quilt. So that's what I did. If you clock on the pictures you will get bugger images and can see some of the patterns I used.

The thread is a bright variegated so it blends in and pops up quite randomly. All the stars are unquilted so they pop up from the background. I've used a continuous line pattern. I like this as it gives a similar feel to stitch in the ditch, but with a bit more interest. It is also a lot quicker to do so I can charge a lot less for it. It is especially good for stars as it somehow seems more starry to me.

In the background I think there is some of everything. The concentric circles was a new one for me. I've tried several of these echo type patterns and I don't like any of them. This one was unintentional and I love it. It's already appeared on a couple more quilts! Funny how these things happen isn't it.

The leaves with curly bits are very much from Myrna's DVD. I've looked at the little curls other quilters do and I hadn't thought that I was accurate enough to make them delicate. However with the confidence from Myrna I gave them a go. I was pleasantly surprised. I can do it. Also if I use my normal curls in with leaves they look good too.

Something else I tried for the first time here was a rolled fern. I've done quite a few curled feathers, but not any of my spiky ones. perhaps starting with one 2" in diameter is a bit odd, but it worked. It does show how well many quilting designs scale. I could imagine this one curl on a kingsize, it would look great.

So I hope you've enjoyed taking a close look at this quilt. I hope I will be able to take some full pictures of it once the binding is on. It will also be coming up as a class at Patchwork Corner, so if you fancy making your own keep and eye on their site.

The wanderers return

Nude with rope and guide me finally escaped US customs and made it home. They have obviously been well cared for on their tour of America. With them came Guide Me's new ribbon. It's very robust, well planned for a show with international entries. It's great to have them home and to be able to take them out to talks again. It also means I can retire the duplicate to my bed, well as soon as I bind it anyway.

Tax returns are like quilting

I teach quite a lot of machine quilting classes and it's become very clear that the biggest problem people have with quilting is other people. They've heard that quilting (the actual stitching three layers together bit) is hard, and boring. The tedious bit you have to do but wish you didn't. So my main job is to change that bit of programming in their head. I do tell students that getting started in quilting is a slight of mind trick. It's usually pretty successful. Most students leave vowing to quilt at least some of their quilts. OK they may all have different abilities and styles but they leave understanding that quilting isn't a big fearsome beast. Hopefully they will pass the message on and over time this glitch will be removed from quilters worldwide. I can dream right.

Anyway what does this have to do with tax? Quite a lot really. Every year I put off doing my tax return. In fairness it does come up in the middle of show season so time is tight, but I could do it in September easily enough. Yet I don't. Maybe that doesn't sound odd, after all we all know it's a real pain to do a tax return, or do we? Is it really that bad? Is it really bad at all? If I am honest I quite like doing it. OK the problems I had yesterday with their website weren't much fun. Being on hold for so long to report the fault wasn't the most exciting way to spend time either, but that was largely my fault (and that of many others I suspect) for leaving it till the last minute. The actual accounting and numbers though I really enjoy. I like having it done so I can review how my business is doing and knowing what I owe the tax man is good too. I don't have to worry about it once I know where I stand. So why don't I do it? I think it's because I know it is difficult. Yes I know it isn't, but everyone else knows it is and I seem to have bought the message. How embarrassing, caught by a dodgy message when I really should know better. I know there is a Heinlein quote along the lines of anything every one knows ain't so, I've read it several times and yet I still fall for it. Doh!

Beware the things we think we know.

An eventful day

I've managed to get my pattern for my new wholecloth together over the weekend and I am so desperate to get started on it. Sadly my machine has other ideas. It's having a strop. Quite an unusual one. It will sew perfectly with metallic thread but won't sew at all with masterpiece. I've had plans for a while to replace the hook assembly and this seemed as good a reason as any. A couple of hours later and a screwdriver to the face job done. Timed and new needle in place, it's exactly the same. Does this count as a good job? Well I replaced a major part with out doing any harm, and the old assembly does look like it has seen better days, but I had rather hoped this would have solved the masterpiece problem. I know I like machines with character, but I also like ones that do what I tell them when I tell them. I may just stick to customer quilts for a couple of weeks until it changes it's mind on thread again. I know it will, it always does. I did really want to get on with this quilt though....

Goodworth Clatford

As you can imagine my talks take me all over the place. Mostly to the back of beyond, just past the last habitation and often in the evening. This can make finding dinner tricky. So after a couple of talks where there was no chance to get a mean I thought I would leave extra early for last nights talk and stop on the motorway. Better an early dinner than no dinner. The plan might even have worked had not a chap in an Escort decided I would not be changing lanes and going into the services. No I don't know what he had against me, maybe he just doesn't like Capris.

Still that may have been for the best as there was a significant accident on the M3 and I spent well over and hour in mostly stationary traffic. Having left very early I arrived in Goodworth Clatford an hour before my talk so could go hunting a pub. Strangely for a quilting venue there was a sign indicating not one, but two pubs serving food. The first unfortunately was closed. This got me thinking, as it is a small village will the other pub either be closed or not serving food? Well the Clatford arms was open, but the kitchen didn't open until 6.30 too late for me. Still the chef wasn't going to have a stranger turn up at her door and go away hungry, so she got the kitchen up and running immediately for me. The stew she provided was stunning, and plentiful. The pub was also very friendly. Small village pubs can be a little uncomfortable as everyone in there knows each other, but not the Clatford Arms, I felt like I had been there for years by the time I left. More than I could have wished for, and it put me in exactly the right frame of mind for giving a talk.

Spratt and Winkle quilters were also very welcoming. Most quilt groups it has to be said are very friendly, but just sometimes you get a gem that really stands out. It's partly I think due to my quirks, I love being given a mug of coffee rather than a cup and saucer for example. I tend to loose the saucers and the cups seem terribly fragile. I arrived and although I was early I was met almost at once by the program secretary, who got the kettle on ASAP, fantastic. The hall was set up for me in very short order, and as each member arrived they offered to help. It's always appreciated even if I don't accept all the offers. My only concern was my introduction, it gave me a heck of a lot to live up to. Still the group seemed happy and there were some not only willing but fantastically directable helpers to pack away at the end. Again I think here I am looking for a group that fits my quirks. I often find English failing me when I try to give instructions so I need people who understand random words and waved hands. Whatever it is, Spratt and Winkle quilters have it. Of course this may just be a nice way of saying the are as barking as I am, but whatever, I had a great evening and I am looking forward to teaching them a workshop.

I have been meaning to post some pictures of what I have been working on. Unfortunately as it isn't essential to business or home life it isn't quite happening. I haven't forgotten though and will do my best to find some time to take pictures for this blog.

Ta da

Finally I can say what I am spending most of my time working on. I mentioned I am planning for a gallery show in 2009. Well it isn't just any show. It is for a gallery at the Festival of Quilts. I am hoping I can find other venues for it afterwards, but right now that will have to wait, I need to make quilts.

As you might expect, when offered large expanses of wall, I have big ideas. Who knows if I will be able to make them all, but I will have a darn good go. The dragster (yes it is a car, yes I did forget to post it) is hopefully going to be joined by a few more in the same vein. They are (for me) fairly small so I like the idea of having a few of them together. I have a few new ladies I would like to get done, the first of which is almost ready to become fabric. I am also working on the illustration form Cancertown, it's big, really big!

Now I am also looking for suggestions. Which quilts would you really like to see on display again? I am expecting to have room to hang some of my older work, and I would love to hang those that people really want to see. I do have some ideas as to which might be appreciated but you're the ones who know what you like.

I hope that this will be an amazing opportunity to display a large collection of my work, and to meet a lot of quilters. OK I know I will forget everyone's name (probably even my own) but it would be good to even briefly put faces to names. Also with the dollar so strong against the pound this might be a great time for some of you American quilters to come and sample the biggest quilt show in Europe.

The only downside is I may need to scale back on my quilting for customers. So if you do have work you would like me to do, please talk to me well before any deadlines you have. I will do my best to fit everything in but it will take planning and if I have a big art quilt on the frame I have to finish before I can remove it. So long as I know what is needed when I hope to be able to plan around this.

Festival of Quilts - Viewers Choice

In Patchwork and Quilting Magazine this month there is the announcement that Ted Storm has won the viewers choice and the Festival of quilts. I can honestly say I am thrilled. Whilst I was really hoping Herd Mentality might have a chance, I did feel Ted had been short changed. So the viewers stepping in and putting it right is wonderful. Of all the quilts at the show Ted's was the one I most wish I had made and would most like to have taken home. If you didn't see 'Spring of Desire' you really missed a treat. It is a fantastic quilt which would only be possible with a lot of highly skilled hand work. The pictures really do not do it justice. Ted has a website, full of information about her quilts, the link will take you right to 'Spring of Desire". Well done Ted, it's an amazing quilt. Oh and it's not just that it's black that I love it so.

Paperwork

As I mentioned a couple of days ago I've been trying to add a diary to my web site. It's brought home to me how much paperwork I now have, and how valuable it is to me. Bookings have just moved into their own file having grown rather thick (I now print out directions and notes when I get the booking form). What really struck me is how much I enjoy those groups who send me several communications over a period of time. I guess the best way to describe it is to say it feels safer. I take enough calls that I haven't got a hope of remembering who where or when, so having something repeated to me a few times really helps. As does the call a week before a booking. So if you are a booking secretary for a group, cursing the workload ( I can imagine how much work it is and I don't envy it) please pat yourself on the back and know your effort is appreciated.

This exercise has also taught me that I need to fill in a booking form of my own during the initial call, as otherwise I can't follow up when a booking for doesn't arrive. Doh! Why does hindsight have to be so good?

Perception of beauty

I was directed to this article from a mail lies I am on. It's long, very long, but well worth a read. It is about a rather unusual busker in a station. It says a lot about how we now live and what people value. Take time, smell the flowers and listen to the busker, you never know, they might be good. I can't say much more without spoiling it so, you'll just have to read it for yourself.

Where, when and what.

I've started putting a listing of where I am teaching or speaking onto my web site. I am hoping it will be useful to my students and help with publicity for the groups who book me. So far January and February are up, but the rest is on it's way. Please do check your event is listed and if you would like me to include contact details for your group email me what you would like adding.

I also have a couple of free spaces on my weekly classes at Patchwork Corner. So if you would be able to come over to Hemel Hempstead once a week to join in the fun give the shop a call on (01442) 259000. We would love to meet you.

Special Bonus

I didn't notice last night (I think I was too excited) but another friend is in this month Popular Patchwork. Linzi a longarm quilter from Scotland has her quilt Botanica Kentickii on page 21. This is also part of the report on the Scottish Quilt Championship. How cool is that? Now was this just a cunning plan to make me phone people? Isn't that a bit drastic :) Yes I am still over the moon, but I have work to do, so back to the frame.

Oooh oooh ooooh

I am so thrilled. I made it onto a cover of a magazine. Well the title of the item about me did, and well, it's the first time I've made a cover at all so it's pretty thrilling. The February edition of Popular Patchwork has an article written by Tricia Revest. I am so chuffed with it. I still don't like this being photographed business, and I find being interviewed very stressful, but I think Tricia has done a very good job.

Oh and to top it off Sally managed to get her quilt in, not once, but twice. Well done Sally! It is her wholecloth 'Flying High', which was at the Scottish Quilt Championships. If I am reading it correctly it won the wholecloth award at the show. All in all a very good magazine to come home to.

Temporary email address

I now have a new temporary email address. It is ferretfabrications@googlemail.com. I suspect that after posting it here it will get clogged with spam pretty quickly, but I am working on a more permanent solution. Hopefully this will mean that you will all be able to get in touch with me while we get email in house and remove our reliance on an ISP.

&*&$%#$#$# technology

I have had it with trying to communicate with people who aren't in the same room as me. I've known that my ISP has been a bit casual about email the last couple of weeks. It's a problem we are working on resolving. I didn't know know until tonight that it has been going on at least 3 months, and my email in both directions has been distinctly erratic. It would be a lot easier if it was all failing, because that is obvious, but when half arrives you assume it all has. Assume and you make and ass out of you and me, I know. So if you have emailed me and I haven't replied, either I have and it hasn't got back to you, or I haven't got your email. I will be sorting out a temporary email address and if you are feeling ignored (I am so sorry) please email that address and I will get back to you.

Having partly broken email is pretty bad, but I've found out today that Royal Mail have been letting me down too. I've been trying to do more by post as I thought it would be more reliable, ha ha ha. Post I sent in November is missing presumed gone. I am sure I have been putting it in post boxes not rubbish bins. Red with a slot and collection times is a post box still isn't it? So if you are expecting a letter from me and you aren't Judy (I have yours here) please let me know. If nothing else comments on here do get to me.

It seems the general rule is, if you haven't actually spoken to me either in person or on the phone assume I have no idea you've been trying too. Oh and if my number comes up as unknown please try again. BT don't seem to like me much either.

Frustrated, me? Yes! Anyone want to spend their time visiting everyone I need to communicate with? Poor pay but varied locations :)

PS. I had a lovely day playing with a friends longarm. I really have got stronger, I can now quilt one handed on other machines than mine. It may not sound like a big deal but I am thrilled. We each found some new patterns to do and I think she has actually managed to teach me how to do stars. I've had a real mental block with them but fingers crossed I have a way to do them now.

Happy new year.

It's tradition now. I blog at new year. This year though is a lot more sedate and no fire. Hope you are all doing something you enjoy. Have a great new year.

Free quilt patterns

Being on several mail lists I get a lot of messages suggesting sites and blogs I might be interested in. I look at a lot, but few really grab me. This one however I think is great. Cindy has several quilt patterns available for free, in a nice range of complexity. Take a look, you might fins something will tickle your fancy too. Quilt patterns from Seattle, by Cindy Carter.

Can you guess what it is yet?

What on Earth would induce someone to stand outside in their pajamas in the middle of winter? Spray baste! It was a piece too big to do in the house so I do them on the hedge outside. All my neighbours already know I am nuts so I don't have to worry about what they think.

So any ideas what my latest piece is going to be?

Two Christmas Quilts

I am sure you remember me saying I had two Christmas quilts on the frame. Well I have finally had time to upload my photographs so I can share them just in time for Christmas.

The first one I felt was the easier one. If nothing else it told me what it wanted, but it also has larger pieces which I often find easier to quilt. The star blocks are all quilted with a continuous curve. I kept all the stitching on the background of the star so they pop up. I wanted the stars themselves to come forward as much as I could.

The Santas are all quilted in the same way, but not the same. Each is outlined and then the back ground filled in with feathers and pebbles. The pebbles take a while to do, but I like the effect that the figures have something to stand on. The background of the figures are pieced, in a churn dash pattern. This gave me a good starting point, and I only quilted some parts of the block, hopefully making the block clearer.

The second of the Christmas quilts was O'Tanenbaum. I've been looking at this quilt hanging on the wall at the shop for a while and I've often wondered how you would quilt it. Well it finally became more than an academic question. This quilt has come closer to stumping me than any I've had before. I was torn between doing some sort of all over and not doing anything that would take away from the huge amount of work that went into piecing it.

Working with the piecing won out. OK no surprise there. The problem was then trying to do it quickly. I didn't want this to take too long and get too expensive. I decided that the houses needed a lot of attention, mostly because I couldn't think of a quick and sympathetic way to quilt the half timbered house. Each house I quilted in a way that added detail to the building, so roofs got tiles and walls got bricks. To make the applique flowers and tree pop up I needed some pretty dense quilting. As I don't often stipple I went for that in those areas. It is a good pattern for holding down an area.

The stars have the same continuous lines that I used on the first quilt. It works, and I guess I had it on the brain at the time. This just left the log cabins. I would normally like to quilt along the logs, but in this quilt they are only 1/2" wide. I also wanted to add some more flow to the quilt, to draw you around the big star. To do that I've put feathers into each of the triangles in log cabins. As the thread is quite a close match to the fabric it doesn't fight with the piecing, but when light falls across the quilt the texture does flow.

So there you go, two quilts just for Christmas.

Why do longarm quilters want so much backing?

Ever wondered? Well there are several very good reasons. Longarm University has a great video that talks you through some of the issues. If you would like to have a look it is the first video on this page. It is intended to explain to new quilters why they might want to have more backing, but I think it will make sense to everyone who has had (or is thinking of having) a quilt longarm quilted.

Do I get my domestic goddess badge yet?

Over the weekend it struck us that it was time to get a tree, but it's really hard to buy a proper tree now. What do I mean by proper? Well a tree that smells like a tree, and ideally looks like one. Not a short fat tree a proper triangular tree. Apparently these requirements mean we need either a Norway Spruce or a Norway Fir. OK, so now we know what we want all we have to do is buy one right? Wrong, everyone (who are these mythic every ones?) now wants a tree that will not drop it's needles smell and shape aren't important. We looked at a huge number of trees on Sunday but none would do for us.

We did however find two silicone cake pans. I'd been after them for a while, but when Tet put in a request for a Christmas cake it seemed a good time to get them. So two pans and a lot of hard stirring later, we have two cakes, (one with peel cherries and ginger) iced and ready to go. There are some advantages to not liking alcohol on your Christmas cakes, I don't need to feed the cake so I can get it done over a shorter time. Also the paler cakes I make don't need to mature in the same way as the darker ones.

In between baking I continued the search for a tree. I eventually found a garden center who did understand the difference and had a whole range of trees. I don't have as tall a tree as I would like, but it smell great. I also managed to pick up some plain silver tinsel to go with the black ornaments I picked up at Ikea a while ago.

So, I've finished the two Christmas quilts, baked and iced two cakes, caught and decorated a tree and made a batch of biscuits. I think that's pretty good going really.

For a while I've been feeling a need to play with my longarm. Just spend some time messing about and trying out new things. In between batches of biscuits I finally managed it. I've had some new rulers I wanted to have a go with for a while and boy they are good. I am going to have to design a quilt that needs lots of little circles. They are fun and much quicker than I had expected. I am also quite taken with the chain of hears ruler. It's great and again much quicker than I had feared. While I've got the big test panel on I am also making up some samples for the shop, illustrating quilting patterns. I'd like to do a sample of my new wholecloth class too. When I get a chance I will take some pictures and post them. I don't have space at home to hang the Christmas quilts so I have to wait until I return them to the shop.

Feeling Festive

The Santa quilt is now finished, but as it is sharing a back with another quilt it is still on the frame. I can't wait to see it hung up so I can see all of it. I really enjoyed it and I think it's come out pretty well. The other quilt it is paired with is another Christmas quilt. This one is even trickier from the quilting front. It has an amazing amount of intricate piecing and plenty of applique. I don't like doing anything that takes away from the top when I quilt, so it is taking a lot of work to quilt it. I think it is coming up OK, but even with sitting down to quilt I can only work for about an hour at a time. I will try and remember to post pictures when I get these two finished.

finally, a quilt I can share

This is the quilt I have on the frame today. I was a little daunted by it. It had 6 applique Santas on it. Now I've started I am really enjoying it. It is a shop sample for Patchwork Corner that has been waiting for quilting for a while. I just hope Jenny likes it as much as I do.